IBM, Apple, and Dell probably have a channel for selling their products in Hungary, with agreements not to compete with those distributors. The distributors may not have a web presence, but that would be the Hungarian distributors' problem, not the manufacturers'.
where I live, Gartner is actively carrying the SCO FUD
Gartner has been Bill's marketing b*tch for many years. I've never seen a study from them that didn't bend over backwards to promote an M$ technology or product. FUD (combined with "nobody ever got fired for buying M$") are standard themes in their presentations.
It seems like its aim for the not-so-intellectual market
I'm not sure how big the market is, but when I travel to exhibits (particularly a tabletop display) I want a monitor of decent size, one that can be angled for the reader, and one that sits separate from my keyboard. Two heads are really much better for demonstrating in this context.
The options for having an extra display are typically to rent (at close to the full price of a new monitor) or bring your own. Current LCDs don't pack up very small (the Samsung 152B packs up the smallest of all the current 15" models I've seen), so you end up with a crate or box that either has to be shipped or checked as luggage.
A monitor that packs up small (and could possibly fit in my cat case) could pay for itself in shipping or customs costs on just one trans-Atlantic trip.
anyone stupid enough to use it in a financial industry for anything other then talking to friends and bullshitting around, should be shot
I suspect this proposal is aimed more at "live chat" customer support services, available from a great many financial (and other) institutions, than at the various IM networks. After all, brokers and banks are urging their customers to ask questions this way.
The suggestions in your first paragraph still apply, of course.
A little digging (sites like Patent Office Professional Association) confirms your order of magnitude. Based on art and pay grade the range seems to run from 12-ish to the low 30's of hours expectancy.
I noticed several complaints on the POPA site about expectancy remaining constant even though the number of shoes to search in the unit grew significantly.
Good answers. I'd like to add two thoughts about why we all seem so unsatisfied with the software and business method patents.
First is that the examiners at the USPTO primarily use the applications and granted patents in their collection to search for prior art, so in these fields (which were only recently, in patent terms, patentable) there isn't a lot of history.
Second, while the number of applications is way up, the number of examiners hasn't changed much. The amount of time available for each examination is very short, on the order of 30 minutes, so the re-check in item (6) isn't likely to happen.
There is already a mechanism somewhat along these lines, although not tied to any sense of "value" of a patent. Patent holders must pay annual maintenance fees to keep the patent active, otherwise the coverage will lapse. Many patents are abandoned this way if they prove to not be commercially (or otherwise) valuable. The USPTO is fairly lax about how late maintenance fees can be paid, but if a company perceives value in a patent they are very likely to keep paying longer to keep it active.
I agree with your conclusions for the simple case... using a switch (or as other posters have noted, sensors) is an easy way to turn the lights on.
But, as others have noted, when the switch isn't physically handy, the mental effort to give the command might balance the locomotion costs. It is equivalent to "hey honey, could you turn on the light" as your partner walks past the switch.
In Minority Report Anderton asked for overhead lights, that is to say, a change in the light configuration. I'd love that capability in the kitchen when my hands are covered with wet ingredients and I need more task light. (I'm particularly sensitive to this problem right now, as the sun seems to set as I'm cooking, taking the room from bright sunlight to darkness mid-process).
Perhaps I'm being naive but the "locked" screen areas of 3270 displays (and non-scrolling areas of vt100 as well) seem like the perfect prior art. From the 70s.
IANAL but that year only counts if the applicant has documented proof (dated notebook, etc) that the invention occurred a year before the application (thus the "first to invent" style of our patent office as compared to the "first to file" of the rest of the world).
Prior art earlier than 1995-05 is bulletproof, but later work could still help.
FAQ from USPTO site describing these requirements here.
Actually, replacing the 767 makes perfect sense. Crews think it's a hard plane to work in, it's cramped for space, and it's not nearly as efficient as the 777. As a passenger it's one of my least favorite planes, perhaps after the A319.
It is a shame that the Sonic Cruiser is going into mothballs.
IANAL, but the '992 patent is the sort of overly-broad work we've come to expect from USPTO. It's not clear at all what the novelty is in this patent... it could be anything from sendnig digitally compressed (on-the-fly) video/audio transmitted over a medium (claim 1) to a network file system containing compressed files (claim 6) to a (possibly novel) idea that the compressed data is sent to a receiver for later viewing (claim 19 - sort of like TIVO sending extra content that you might like over night). NASA was using video compression for deep space missions in the 1970s, and many of us mounted nfs file systems (or found our pron from BBS's) in the 1980s, all of which predates the January 7, 1991 filing date.
The presumption of validity for granted patents is a real problem, but this one is a dog except (possibly) for a few limited claims.
The Anaheim-Vegas link won't happen now that the Vegas casino companies have built casinos throughout California (on Indian reservations). Why should the Vegas interests spend the billions to build (or many millions to lobby to use tax $ to build) the fast rail when they can suck wallets locally?
[sheep] will actually desire the copy protection if they are told it will lead to better sound and picture quality and DRM will save the industry a lot of money
I'll take the same quality, the same user experience, and a portion of those "savings" instead of some mythical improvements in quality. Somehow I don't expect that combination to be one of the choices.
Unclear how DRM improves songwriting and performance skills.
Slashdot Mirror
You clearly have too many of those 450W P4s running in your house.
If you're running Windows I don't want to be on the same road as you!
IBM, Apple, and Dell probably have a channel for selling their products in Hungary, with agreements not to compete with those distributors. The distributors may not have a web presence, but that would be the Hungarian distributors' problem, not the manufacturers'.
Gartner has been Bill's marketing b*tch for many years. I've never seen a study from them that didn't bend over backwards to promote an M$ technology or product. FUD (combined with "nobody ever got fired for buying M$") are standard themes in their presentations.
I'm not sure how big the market is, but when I travel to exhibits (particularly a tabletop display) I want a monitor of decent size, one that can be angled for the reader, and one that sits separate from my keyboard. Two heads are really much better for demonstrating in this context.
The options for having an extra display are typically to rent (at close to the full price of a new monitor) or bring your own. Current LCDs don't pack up very small (the Samsung 152B packs up the smallest of all the current 15" models I've seen), so you end up with a crate or box that either has to be shipped or checked as luggage.
A monitor that packs up small (and could possibly fit in my cat case) could pay for itself in shipping or customs costs on just one trans-Atlantic trip.
I suspect this proposal is aimed more at "live chat" customer support services, available from a great many financial (and other) institutions, than at the various IM networks. After all, brokers and banks are urging their customers to ask questions this way.
The suggestions in your first paragraph still apply, of course.
Uh oh - maybe the IPV6 address space isn't big enough after all!
I noticed several complaints on the POPA site about expectancy remaining constant even though the number of shoes to search in the unit grew significantly.
First is that the examiners at the USPTO primarily use the applications and granted patents in their collection to search for prior art, so in these fields (which were only recently, in patent terms, patentable) there isn't a lot of history.
Second, while the number of applications is way up, the number of examiners hasn't changed much. The amount of time available for each examination is very short, on the order of 30 minutes, so the re-check in item (6) isn't likely to happen.
There is already a mechanism somewhat along these lines, although not tied to any sense of "value" of a patent. Patent holders must pay annual maintenance fees to keep the patent active, otherwise the coverage will lapse. Many patents are abandoned this way if they prove to not be commercially (or otherwise) valuable. The USPTO is fairly lax about how late maintenance fees can be paid, but if a company perceives value in a patent they are very likely to keep paying longer to keep it active.
But, as others have noted, when the switch isn't physically handy, the mental effort to give the command might balance the locomotion costs. It is equivalent to "hey honey, could you turn on the light" as your partner walks past the switch.
In Minority Report Anderton asked for overhead lights, that is to say, a change in the light configuration. I'd love that capability in the kitchen when my hands are covered with wet ingredients and I need more task light. (I'm particularly sensitive to this problem right now, as the sun seems to set as I'm cooking, taking the room from bright sunlight to darkness mid-process).
Perhaps I'm being naive but the "locked" screen areas of 3270 displays (and non-scrolling areas of vt100 as well) seem like the perfect prior art. From the 70s.
Prior art earlier than 1995-05 is bulletproof, but later work could still help.
FAQ from USPTO site describing these requirements here.
It is a shame that the Sonic Cruiser is going into mothballs.
The presumption of validity for granted patents is a real problem, but this one is a dog except (possibly) for a few limited claims.
The Anaheim-Vegas link won't happen now that the Vegas casino companies have built casinos throughout California (on Indian reservations). Why should the Vegas interests spend the billions to build (or many millions to lobby to use tax $ to build) the fast rail when they can suck wallets locally?
I'll take the same quality, the same user experience, and a portion of those "savings" instead of some mythical improvements in quality. Somehow I don't expect that combination to be one of the choices.
Unclear how DRM improves songwriting and performance skills.